Electrical connectors have become widely accepted as a preferred means for interconnecting the circuitry components of electrically operated products and equipment. In such applications, providing for easy connection and disconnection of cable or wire through the use of connectors permits convenience of assembly and maintenance as well as versatility in design.
Connectors in current use are of diverse construction. However, a common arrangement includes a dielectric housing fitted with a plurality of stamped and formed conductive terminals to which insulated multiconductor cable or wiring may be electrically connected. Numerous terminal configurations likewise are available, suited to the specific requirement of the application. A preferred terminal in many applications is one which has the capability of establishing electrical contact with the conductors of the cable by displacement of the insulative coating of the conductors, obviating the need to perform the separate step of stripping the insulative coating.
A wide variety of insulation displacement terminals are known in the art. Generally, these terminals provide a narrow slot which receives an insulation covered wire, severs the insulation covering of the wire in the process, and establishes, automatically, an electrical connection between the terminal and the central core of the wire. This is contrasted with the self-piercing type of terminals which usually have sections in the form of teeth that pierce the insulation and engage the metallic core when the terminal is clinched or secured to the wire. When piercing the insulation, the teeth, in essence, also displace the insulation in order to engage the core of the wire.
One type of self-piercing terminal is a flat, stamped metal terminal commonly used to terminate electrical wires on a low pitch spacing, such as in a Western Electric Company modular phone plug, as is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,954,320, dated May 4, 1976. Such terminals have been used primarily with electrical wires having stranded conductive cores. The terminals require terminating forces applied normal to the longitudinal axis of the insulated wire, and the connector relies on the dielectric or plastic housing to maintain contact pressure on the terminals after termination. Such flat terminal connectors cause problems in many applications because the terminating forces must be applied transversely of the length of the insulated wires, which is quite limiting and is particularly limiting where multiple rows of circuit connections are desired.
The present invention is directed to providing a flat, insulation piercing type terminal which is terminated by the application of a force generally parallel to the axis of the insulated wire. The terminal of the invention is deformed during the termination process to maintain contact pressure after termination so as not to rely on the connector housing to maintain constant pressure, and the terminal is equally applicable with solid or stranded conductive cores of the insulated wire.